Archives For: April 2012

It has become increasingly common to discuss the cultural aspects of conflict and conflict resolution. Where does conflict come from? Some scholars take a social constructionist view of conflict, rooted in social science literature, which also provides the philosophical underpinnings of Human Science as taught at Saybrook. The construction of meaning is a social act, and meaning is a negotiated process.

During the trial of Anders Behring Breivik - the anti-Muslim militant who massacred 77 people in Norway last summer - Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! spoke with Norwegian sociologist and mathematician, Johan Galtung, who is regarded as the principal founder of the discipline of peace and conflict studies. His granddaughter was on the island when Breivik attacked.

The practice of Human Science is a way of questioning, interpreting, and understanding human experience. But what means are used to conduct such a process? Is the “standard” or (“received”) view of science, based on empirical knowledge and embodied in a Positivist model, useful for Human Scientists? Or is the process better served through the development of additional methods more aptly suited to comprehending the range and depth of human experience?

The New Existentialists, a Saybrook University-based website dedicated to promoting the work of the 21st century’s Existential Psychology movement, has added a new section following the controversy surrounding the DSM-V … the so-called “Bible” of psychiatry.

“While the DSM has had a long history of controversy since its first edition was published in 1952, with various factions within the scientific community disagreeing over particular diagnostic criteria or psychiatric assumptions, the current conflict over the latest incarnation of the DSM is rife with disagreement and acrimony,” writes Dr. Donna Rockwell, in her introduction to the new section.

New articles from around the world on the DSM are now being stored on The New Existentialists, for review any time, along with Dr. Rockwell’s explanation of the issues behind the controversy. It is updated regularly, to keep you on top of the issue.